


Last Attempt

by A_Stressed_Cupcake



Series: The Road Home- Canon divergence [1]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Everyone Needs A Hug, Except Zhan Tiri, Gen, Guilt, POV Multiple, The red rocks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22883272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Stressed_Cupcake/pseuds/A_Stressed_Cupcake
Summary: Varian has been eavesdropping.When he hears about a lead on Cassandra, he sets out to help her.The risk he took was calculated. Too bad he seems to be bad at math.-Pitched and written BEFORE Cassandra's Revenge, pretty much everything before that is canon-compliant.
Relationships: Cassandra & Varian (Disney: Tangled), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Quirin & Rapunzel (Disney), Quirin & Varian (Disney), Rapunzel & Varian (Disney)
Series: The Road Home- Canon divergence [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670134
Comments: 74
Kudos: 242





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally meant to be a one-shot. However, it unexpectedly ended up being more than 10k words, so I've decided to split it into chapters.
> 
> My impulsive posting habits shall never die apparently.

It would be inaccurate to describe Varian as a wild card. He was more like a whole deck of cards with symbols that did not belong to any existing card game, all scattered to the four winds and spontaneously combustible.

Emphasis on  _ spontaneously combustible _ , because he had a tendency to set things on fire in ways he himself could not discern after the fact.

So, when he was found snooping around, disappearing and reappearing around the palace, no one was too concerned. They'd gotten used to it quickly once his visits had become regular.

No one really ever caught him eavesdropping, either. 

He'd been listening in on certain conversations, pertaining to  _ something _ in particular that seemed to be disturbing Rapunzel. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, but if he had to guess, his money was on Cassandra. It was always Cassandra. Because if he wasn't the one making the princess's life a living hell, then someone else had to. 

Still, Rapunzel had one glaring flaw. Several, but one in particular concerning his current mission: she  _ never _ talked about her feelings to anyone. Okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly a  _ glaring flaw _ , but it definitely wasn't healthy. Or useful to him.

It took weeks of eavesdropping before he managed to catch something interesting.

Something about a letter.

"...saying this is a trap, but what else could it be?" Eugene's voice echoed louder and louder as the couple entered the room he just so happened (completely planned, of course) to be hiding in.

"A lead! That's what." his girlfriend replied, pacing back and forth: "The only lead we have, to be exact."

"Come on, Blondie. She's been either avoiding you or actively attacking you for months, now all of a sudden she wants to talk, and it doesn't smell fishy to you?"

"Of course it does!!" she snapped, "But what else am I supposed to do? I  _ want  _ to talk this out with her. I  _ want _ us to be friends again."

The boy had to stifle a scoff in his hiding spot under a table. Yeah, because historically, talking had  _ always _ worked out for her, without exception.

"I know you do, but you can't just rush into this."

"I don't have time!! The appointment is tonight. I either go or I don't, and if I don't… I don't know. I don't want her to lash out or try to reach me herself while I'm here, surrounded by people."

"It would give us time to prepare."

"No. I don't need time. I just need some courage and a healthy dose of improvisation!!" 

She laughed but it didn't sound funny. Varian imagined she was making jazz hands to emphasize her statement.

He heard a patented Tired Boyfriend Sigh™.

"Fine, you're right. Maybe you  _ can _ work this out. But I'm coming with you."

"There's no way to talk you out of that, is there?"

"Nope! Now, we better start packing if we want to be there by midnight."

His voice began to fade as they walked away. 

How convenient. His hand ran to a vial in his pocket. Time for some more sneaking. 

  
  


Rapunzel could safely say she hadn't gone to sleep that night. She didn't remember so much as getting close to a surface she could potentially nap on. So why on Earth she had woken up on the floor of her bedroom with Pascal insistently poking at her cheek, she couldn't tell. 

She dragged herself into a sitting position. Her head was spinning like a merry-go-round, so she pressed it against the side of the bed hoping it would kick it down a notch. It didn't.

It took maybe five minutes for the dizziness to quell enough for her to stand and, even when it did, she had no idea how she had ended up on the floor in the first place.

Pascal squawked on her shoulder. He pointed at something with his tail. An empty glass. 

She raised her brow at him. She distinctly remembered drinking some orange juice from that glass, and not much else after that. The chameleon pointed with both his tiny arms as well.

"I don't understand." she mumbled, "The juice??"

He brought a paw to his forehead dramatically. Jumping onto the nightstand, he assumed a sneaking posture and gestured for  _ putting something in _ to the glass.

"What?" she wheezed, grasping at the nightstand to take a better look at the glass. It didn't look any different than any glass, but there was a… strange, chemical aftertaste to the pleasant smell of oranges that permeated the room. She turned to her friend: "You think someone slipped me sleeping medicine? But...why would they do that?" she wondered, staring at the room around her. Nothing looked like it had been touched, not even the door or the windows. So why…

_ Cuckoo! _

Her eyes ran to the cuckoo clock in her room, the one she always forgot to turn off before bed. 

The clock's hands read midnight.

  
  


The empty vial clinked against the other equipment in his bag as he made his way to the valley. Some might define his methods excessive. But they were effective.

He didn't need that much time, anyway: just a few hours of advantage to get there before they could realize what had happened. If his calculations were correct, they wouldn't figure out it had been him at all; he'd told Dad he was at the palace and he'd told the princess he'd gone home, so unless they actually talked to each other, which was unlikely, his story should hold up. 

The risk he'd taken was calculated, but apparently, he must've been bad at math, because he'd forgotten to take some crucial variables into account. For example, it hadn't even crossed his mind that the impending signs of an attack would push Dad to go look for him. He had also forgotten about the unmistakable aftertaste of his sleeping drug, which would immediately put suspicion on him. Lastly, he hadn't thought about the fact that people had seen him leave the palace and go in the exact opposite direction of his home.

So yeah, maybe the risk wasn't as calculated as he'd imagined.

He should've seen it coming.

  
  


The streets of Corona were narrow and usually dark at that time of night. Very few people bothered to leave their lamps on outside, fewer still were even awake. 

However, this was anything but a regular night. Vague tremors and a low rumbling from beneath had kept everyone awake, watching quietly from their windows, holding their breath every time the earth shook. Something was on the way.

So, when they saw their princess sprinting out into the night, some of the citizens rushed out to question her. What was the rumbling? Should they evacuate? Where was she going?

The questions changed when she asked them if anyone had happened to see Varian. Why was she asking? Was it his fault? Where was he going?

She couldn't give them an answer. She had a feeling the tremors weren't his fault, but as for where he was or why he had slipped her a narcotic, she had no idea. Either way, she needed him to get to safety, namely, a place that wasn't underground and incredibly easy to collapse. He had  _ told  _ her he was going home, but she'd never seen him leave and he did have a tendency to lock himself in the lab a little longer than he should have. She shot a nervous glance at the clocktower. It was way past midnight. There was no way Cass was going to take it well if she didn't show up, and quickly, but the road to the valley was long and dangerous at night.

She made a noise in the back of her throat.

There was no time.

That was why, when she spotted a certain someone approaching with a nervous stride, she didn't know whether to call it a blessing or a curse. 

Quirin greeted her with a quicker bow than he normally would have, clearly in a hurry: "Your Highness. What are you doing out here?"

"I uh…" she glanced around nervously, "I have a… thing. Urgent business… to attend to. Yeah."

The  _ it's past midnight _ comment was clear in his eyes, but never voiced. Instead, he changed the subject to what was probably his question in the first place: "Where's Varian?"

Bless the man, he could not read the room to save his life. But he did have a sense for when his suicidally impulsive child had done something he shouldn't have; maybe that was what pushed him to go look for him at midnight.

Rapunzel didn't know what to answer. The truth was probably a good start. "He told me he'd gone home." she answered, sincerely, "But maybe he decided to spend the night in the lab instead. He does that sometimes. I thought I should head there…" 

She gestured vaguely, but the invitation was clear.

And off they went to look for the alchemist.

  
  


Contrary to all expectations, the lab was empty. Well, aside from the scribbles that covered half the walls and the permanent chaos and disorder that followed Varian wherever he went, but as for the alchemist himself, or any of his personal possessions, they were nowhere in sight. His bag wasn't there, nor were any of his clothes. 

"Maybe he  _ did  _ go home." Rapunzel concluded.

"I'm afraid not. There's only one safe road from home to here, and I should have crossed him at some point on my way here. He knows better than to take the other road at night." Quirin observed.

"But then… where else could he be?" she sighed, "He didn't tell me anything. It doesn't look like he ran into trouble here, either. This is all the same as when I visited him yesterday."

They both went silent, racking their brain for any clues as to where he might have gone.

It didn't last long. Rapunzel absent-mindedly reached into her bag for anything that could help her. Her eyes went wide as she frantically searched her bag for what she knew should have been there. Her fingers never once brushed the familiar texture of parchment, only glass and wood and a very disgruntled chameleon.

Quirin looked at her in confusion: "Princess? What's w-"

"Oh no. No. Nononono…" she whispered, emptying the contents of the bag onto the nearby desk. She scanned them with her eyes. The letter wasn't there.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she glanced at the man standing, unsure, beside her. 

She would have given anything not to be the one to break the news to him.

  
  


If there was one thing Varian wasn't, it was punctual. If there was one thing he was, that would be horribly anxious.

So maybe he'd left as soon as possible just to be absolutely sure he wouldn't be late. So maybe he'd gone even faster than expected thanks to scary woods at night boosting his speed more than regular appointment anxiety ever could. Maybe he was early. But would that really be an issue? He was patient. The woods didn't get any less scary, but why would that be a problem? It wasn't a problem. He was completely fine. It's not like he was barely sixteen, small and scrawny, a terrible fighter, unarmed and cripplingly anxious to boot.

It was fine.

Nothing was wrong.

…

Perhaps he should have mentioned  _ terrible liar  _ in his description.

Either way, it couldn't be long at that point. The moon was high in the sky and midnight had to be close.

He sat quietly on the low branch of a tree.

What was he doing?

Why hadn't he left the experienced people to deal with this? Why was he putting himself in jeopardy? What was he hoping to accomplish?

Redeeming Cass?

"Oh, who am I kidding…" he whispered, leaning his head against the tree's somehow smooth bark: "The last time I saw her, I tried to crush her to death."

He sighed wearily. Maybe he really _ was _ an idiot. 

Maybe he shouldn't have gone there.

But he owed it to Cass to not let her go the way he had. He owed it to everyone to not let them down that path. He owed a lot of things to Rapunzel, too. 

A little spark of hope bloomed in his chest.

Yeah. Wouldn't it be amazing to go back to Rapunzel, with the problem solved and no one harmed? Wouldn't it be great to finally do something right? 

The spark died where it had sprung. 

Of course not. When did he ever get it right?

It wouldn't go like that.

More likely, Cass would just run away and try again, with her real target this time. Maybe she'd be even angrier with Rapunzel for something completely out of her control, and what else was new?

He slumped against the tree.

"I should have just gone home."

He'd barely got that thought out, though, when heavy footsteps turned his attention to the big pond that closed off the valley. He held his breath, pulling his legs against his chest and clutching the tree with both hands.

_ It's too late to turn back now. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone's in trouble :D  
> It's me. I'm the trouble.  
> Sorry to everyone in this story.  
> Catch me referencing other works by Mr Jeremy Jordan :D
> 
> Next chapter will be out Thursday at the latest.
> 
> Please feel free to yell at me, because it ain't getting any better anytime soon :3
> 
> -Cass


	2. Chapter 2

She looked different.

Paler, stronger, scarier. A  _ lot _ scarier.

She'd always looked like she might murder someone, but up until that point, it would have been out of righteous fury and little else. Not at that moment.

She walked on a bridge of black and blue spikes that stretched beneath her feet as she went forward, like a malformed, thorny vine, stealing the life away from a tree it had ensnared. She crossed the pond with little effort and sat on a rock in wait. Of him.

Well, not him _ exactly _ .

He pondered just waiting for her to leave and then going back home, but he had a feeling that she would find him whether he came out of hiding or not, so what was the point?

Still, he felt his legs refuse more and more strenuously to move with every chilling  _ ssssssshing _ of the rock against the sword Cassandra was busy sharpening. He couldn't see her, but the noise was unmistakable.

Over the noise of the sword, though, he heard something else. 

"...w up for sure. Just give her a minute."

A pause.

"No, I'm telling you. She's coming. She has to. I know where she is, she can't hide, so why wouldn't she come?"

Another pause, a longer one. Like she was listening for a response.

Then she scoffed: "Hah! As if. Trust me, she'd much rather meet me here and now than back in Corona later."

Varian raised his brow. 

_ Who is she talking to? _

Slowly, curiosity prevailed upon his fear. Very carefully, he pulled himself up to stand on the branch, so he could actually  _ see  _ Cassandra and whoever she was talking to. Sure, he hadn't heard anything they'd said, but maybe they just couldn't speak, or spoke much more softly than Cass. He peered over the higher branch he was using for support.

There she was. With glowing blue hair and a shiny black armour and an equally shiny black sword. She sat on a rock, sharpening the sword, as expected. What was  _ un _ expected was the distinct lack of someone else.

Someone like… a friend. Or maybe a frenemy. Either way,  _ someone _ .

Instead, for how much he scanned Cassandra's surroundings and stared intently at the otherwise innocuous spot of the valley that seemed to have caught her attention, he could find no evidence of life. 

_ Great, now she's talking to herself _ , he joked in his mind, but his heart was racing at that point. His pulse was ramping up faster and faster, more than it should have. There was no way out, was there?

That was, along with the impossible tremor in his arms, the reason he decided to come out of hiding. Much like sitting in an inescapable room that is burning to the ground, the wait felt like it would be worse than diving into the fire. Slowly, he placed a trembling leg on a lower branch, intent on carefully climbing down. He must've been less careful than he thought, though, because his foot slipped forward, sending him flying back towards the ground. 

  
  


The walk to the valley had started out awkward, to say the least, and it wasn't getting any better. She still hadn't found it in herself to say anything that wasn't  _ I'm sorry _ ; he had never replied anything other than  _ it wasn't your fault _ . It was repetitive, monotone. Awkward. Useless. Artificial.

They hadn't said all that needed to be said, far from it. They'd barely scratched the surface. But the silence felt more comfortable than the ugly truth. Silence was better than all the guilt and rage and fear that stormed within them. If they were ever allowed to get out, they would be utterly destructive. 

Quirin's gaze was fixed on the open sky ahead of them. He looked at the moon almost as though he were searching for answers in it. Almost like he was praying.

Rapunzel turned away. She reached into her bag for the little comfort her best friend could provide with his tiny little arms that closed around her finger in an infinitely small, but infinitely comforting hug. She kept her lips from twitching upward. Laughing it off might help keep her calm, but she got the feeling it would do her silent companion no favours whatsoever, given the way his shoulders slumped. 

"We'll find him." she blurted out on impulse. They would. Her natural instinct to protect began to swell in her gut. 

The man looked less convinced. There was something hollow in his eyes when he nodded at her. Like he was looking for a body to mourn and not a boy to save.

She looked ahead.

It would be at least a couple more hours to the valley; the sun would be rising by the time they got there.

And so the Sundrop pressed on.

  
  


Bones were strong. And thank goodness for that. The fall left Varian groaning in pain, but oh, how much worse it could have been if bones were only slightly more fragile. 

He had bigger problems, though.

They came first in the form of heavy footsteps heading towards him. Then a shadow looming over his small figure, very,  _ very  _ small, compared to the shadow. What snapped him out of his thoughts for good, though, was the gloved hand that hauled him up by the front of his shirt.

He yelped in surprise.

The blue glow of Cassandra's hair dyed his face a sickly hue and the moon itself paled in comparison to the cold of her gaze. She looked at him like one would a captured spy. Which, he briefly entertained, may have been her thoughts exactly. 

"What are  _ you _ doing here?" she spat, without releasing her iron grip.

He took one, maybe two seconds to think of an answer, but couldn't get it out before she asked again: "What are you doing here, Varian?"

"Nothing!!" he yelped, involuntarily kicking at her leg in a panic. He hissed in pain as his foot hit solid rock.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You can't cut black rocks with a leather boot." she advised, finally letting him down, but never letting him leave. "Now, why are you really here? I'll know if you're lying."

He took just a moment to catch his panicked breath.

"I came here to talk to you." he answered, sincerely. His voice cracked on  _ talk _ . 

"Mhm." nodded Cassandra, condescendingly, "Of course. So it's a coincidence that you showed up at the exact time and place that Rapunzel was supposed to be here? And is it also a coincidence that she is  _ not _ , in fact, here?"

"She didn't send me." he immediately clarified, "With some luck, she doesn't even know I'm here. And she's not coming anytime soon, by the way." he gloated, finally letting his back straighten, "Not until the sleeping potion wears off, anyway."

He flicked his fingers against the glass of the empty vial, producing a satisfying  _ clink _ when it hit the vial next to it thanks to the momentum.

He realized on second thought that gloating was probably a bad idea.

Cassandra scoffed, halfway between angered and impressed by the implications in his words: "You  _ drugged _ her?"

"Her  _ and  _ all who knew of this appointment." he specified, "Which… which is better than what  _ you _ had in mind, probably. I think." he mumbled, unsure.

Cassandra didn't reply. She seemed to be pondering what to do with him. A legitimate question, given that he was maybe the last person she'd expected to find when she'd shown up to the meeting.

Finally, she sat on a rock in front of him. 

"I'll hear you out." she said, "I have some time to kill."

He gulped. She'd made herself comfortable. Clearly, she must've been confident he wouldn't be stupid enough to try to run. Which he definitely was. Or would've been, if not for the fact that he  _ did  _ genuinely want to talk to her.

He sat down in the grass, too.

The words that had been dancing around in his head on his way there ran dry as soon as he looked at her. There was something about her that was paralyzingly terrifying.

"Cass…" he started, "Look, I understand, okay? I've been there…"

She rolled her eyes, but he pressed on: "I know that… this feels like the right choice, like the  _ good _ choice, but it's like quicksand. You step in and it feels nice to finally blow off some tension after all the pain and the hard work you went through, right? It's soft. But then it sucks you in. You mess up, again and again, and you don't even realize it, and when you do…"

He bit his lip.

"When you do, it's already too late. It's up to your neck. You're sinking, and you didn't even realize it, and you feel stupid all of a sudden, for not seeing it sooner, you feel guilty for not doing anything, for refusing help, for being stubborn. I know. Just… Cass, please. She misses you. I miss you."

Silence fell.

To her credit, she at least let him finish before she burst out laughing.

" _ Miss  _ me?" she scoffed, "Well, she should've thought of that before. And me…"

She glared at him with piercing eyes: "I'm not doing anything, Varian. I'm not like you. I haven't done anything you've done. This…" she opened her arms wide to indicate  _ everything _ , "...is all me. And just because it's not what Rapunzel's doing that doesn't mean it's evil, or wrong."

"But you  _ are  _ wrong!" cried Varian, standing abruptly, "You're wrong, and you're misguided, and you refuse to recognize that. You want the problem? There it is!! You  _ are  _ like me, like it or not. You're angry at Rapunzel for something that  _ wasn't even her fault _ !!"

Her gaze went from cold to chilling.

"You should sit down." she advised, "You already fell once."

"No." he growled.

She shook her head like a disapproving teacher. Her hair began to float instead of bobbing around her like it should have and it was glowing brighter and brighter by the second. The blue light of the moon bathed the entire valley now and shrouded both of them in a bluish halo, projecting twisted shadows on the ground below and on the little spikes that were beginning to rise from underneath and ripping through dirt and grass.

He noticed with a rush of panic that they were all pointing in his direction. Almost accusingly.

Cassandra didn’t seem to notice. She glanced over her left shoulder and her eyes went dark for a moment.

“What good will that do?” she suddenly asked.

“What?”

She ignored him, still looking to her left: “I just have to…”

Whatever came next, it wasn’t good.

Her face twisted in anger and the spikes grew tenfold in size in a matter of seconds.

Their colour spiralled from a bright and pale blue to a violent ruby red and he yelped in pain as one sliced across his calf. Another one barely missed his neck.

Cassandra didn't notice anything past the fear in his eyes. A rock  _ pierced his back, two, three, four, f… _

None.

None of the rocks had stabbed him yet. In fact, they'd stopped moving. 

_ Until one last treacherous spike shot out from beneath the ground, ripping through his spine and out his chest in a gleaming flourish of red. _

He could almost taste the blood in his throat, but no.

It wasn't there.

He brought a trembling hand to his lips. 

_ It returned covered in blood _ .

It returned as clean as ever.

He brought his hands to his hair with a cry of confusion. It was only after he saw Cassandra's face that he finally processed the pain in his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like the red rocks, don't @ me.  
> So I saw on Quirin's Wiki that Rapunzel is listed as a friend and I can't say I'm complaining. There is some baggage there.
> 
> Anywho, I'm gonna go to sleep now, see you soon!!
> 
> Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
> 
> -Cass


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Blood and serious injury.

The earth rumbled beneath them.

Rapunzel sucked in a sharp breath as the forest lit up with bright crimson: once again, she stared distrustfully at the little red spikes that were beginning to rise from the ground; left, right, to the back and front of them. She spared Quirin a single glance and immediately turned away at the poorly concealed panic on his face.

_ It's your fault _ , a voice had been telling her, over and over, on the entire journey, but it seemed to grow louder at that moment. A feeling of pure and unadulterated terror gripped her where her lungs met her throat, depriving her of breath. She knew the feeling. She could almost see the ghostly figures of fallen soldiers lurking just beside her. 

She turned her eyes to the moon gleaming above and a feeling of calm washed over her. The moon was unaffected by the hellish red glow of the rocks, the moon did not fear them, the moon wore its serene and mischievous smile no matter what. It was such a bright night. She marveled at the night sky, finally welcoming fresh air back into her lungs.

A choked gasp sounded from beside her, snatching her little illusion of comfort from her grasp. Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest when she turned around.

_ He's hurt everyone's hurt you barely know this man and you already managed to ruin his life twice you ruin everything you touch and you don't even need an incantation to make things die around you- _

Quirin turned his head away from whatever nightmare the rocks had conjured, startled, but otherwise unaffected. She didn't let herself relax too much, though. She knew perfectly well that the red rocks would cause illusions. But they really didn't know what to expect from the road ahead. If Cassandra were to suddenly appear in front of them, she wasn't going to risk it by assuming she was merely a hallucination born of fear.

She once again glanced furtively at the man beside her. They had barely conversed at all. Did he know about the red rocks? He seemed to, since he'd turned away from them instead of being lured by whatever they had shown him.

But how much did he know? Was he also on the lookout for a truth among the lies? Did he really not hold her accountable for his son's disappearance?

Was he somehow involved?

No, what was she thinking? Why on Earth would he ever do that?

She bit her lip. A part of her brain assured her that he would have no reason whatsoever to betray her, but since when was she right about that? Maybe Varian wasn't even missing. Maybe it was a trap. Maybe he  _ was  _ missing and being held hostage, maybe she was walking right into the trap.

She shook her head vehemently. No. What was she thinking? Since when did she think like that?

She gave the rocks a hateful glare as Pascal made a frightened chitter on her shoulder. She felt him pull a strand of hair over himself. 

"It's okay, buddy." she whispered, turning her eyes to the moon once again.

_ It's not real. _

  
  


_ It's not real _ .

That's what he was trying to tell himself.

Except, the pain wasn't going away this time. It wasn't the illusion of pain that was ripping through his abdomen, it was real and pure agony, like pins being stuck one by one in every millimeter of his chest. He felt like a voodoo doll.

_ It's not real _ , he told himself looking at the spike that had found its place in his chest. He tried to say it out loud, but he couldn't. It hurt too much to move. Only a pathetic, pained whimper left his dry lips then.

_ It's not- _

_ It's real _ .

He only realized it when the spike retreated all of a sudden, depriving him of any support and leaving him to collapse harshly against the dry and rocky ground of the valley. He probably should have felt more pain from the fall than he did, but his chest hurt too much. The pain was simply all-encompassing, relentless and agonizing; it had spread to his entire body now, in such a way that, had he not seen where the rock had impaled him, he wouldn't have been able to tell where it was coming from.

He heard shouting then, when he finally settled down on the scarce grass, but so distant and muffled by the ringing in his ears that he could barely tell what they were saying at first.

"...n't want this!!" 

Cassandra's fierce but somewhat panicked voice was the first thing he heard. There was something else this time, though. 

"It doesn't matter." a different voice said, so calmly and with such a strange accent that he had to wonder if he was hallucinating again, "It happened." the voice concluded, laconically.

It was as final as a death sentence.

Perfectly appropriate for when, a moment later, unconsciousness finally claimed him.

  
  


Rapunzel was getting seriously nervous. They had to be more and more careful with each step they took, because every minute new rocks rose from the ground around them. 

They were both growing wary, she noticed. Until…

One moment the valley was quiet. The next moment, the unmistakable sound of a black rock attack echoed from far away into the forest and suddenly, a long line of tall spikes was rising from the ground, headed their way, like a giant, destructive wave of shining crimson.

"Look out!!" she yelled, stumbling backwards to get out of the line of fire.

She fell on her side with a groan as her hair came loose and spilled all around her like a mop of seaweed on the beach. It shrouded her vision a golden hue, tainted by the scarlet glow of the rocks, but never completely lost, never gone.

She heard a worried chitter from just beside her and hurried to welcome Pascal in her hands: "I'm here, buddy. Are you okay?"

He chittered again, hugging her finger shakily. Scratching his chin to calm him down, she sat up.

It didn't occur to her that she hadn't come alone until she heard a pained groan a few feet away from her.

Her eyes went wide with fear before she'd even turned around.

_ It's your fault you can protect yourself but he can't and you are not even looking at him you're pathetic you only hurt people you said you never break promises well tough luck princess you do and- _

And he was okay.

A little bruised from falling on his arm, maybe, but okay. The red rocks' influence receded to the back of her mind once again.

She shook her head, staring blankly at her hair, which was now strewn across the path for a few metres at least. She hadn't noticed before that the ribbons that held it together had gotten caught in the path of a rock and snapped clean off; the beads were now scattered all around them, completely unusable. Rapunzel sighed, gathering her hair as best she could to walk better. Two of the ribbons were intact. They'd have to do.

They set out again without another word.

Until she finally worked up the courage to speak to him: "This is dangerous. Maybe I should just-"

"With all due respect, your Highness, no."

She hadn't expected him to reply so quickly or so confidently. He hadn't even looked at her. His eyes were once again set on the winding path ahead of them, where the valley could just barely be spotted in the distance from the hill they stood on. 

She only realized she'd stopped walking when she could distinctly see his back. Speeding up to catch up to him, she made another weak attempt: "I really don't think anyone else should be involved with this. I… I know that it's Varian, and I understand, but…"

She paused. No, that was so unconvincing that she couldn't even convince herself. But it would probably sound stupid if she told him the real reason she didn't want him coming along.

So she kept quiet.

She jumped a little when he addressed her for the first time that day: "What do you see?" he asked.

"I see the road… the trees…"

"What do the rocks make you see?" 

She went quiet.

"Something that isn't real." she said, "Something that will not happen. I won't let it happen."

_ Not again _ .

"Exactly. It's not real." he agreed.

The knot of anxiety in her gut loosened just a little. 

When the wave of red rocks had shot out from the ground, they'd spread over the land like a crawling, parasitic flower; its petals reached many miles away, rising from dirt and water and eradicating trees and bushes in their wake.

Cassandra hadn't seen any of it.

No one had seen it, in fact, except for maybe the birds far above her head, but Cassandra had barely even noticed they'd sprouted. Her attention was solely on the kid in front of her. 

The spike had cut through his waistcoat and his shirt and sliced clean through skin and sinew, piercing through vein after vein until it lodged itself into what, judging by the way he was breathing, must have been his left lung. 

" **_No_ ** !!!" she screamed, and the spike retreated shamefully back into the gravelly soil beneath them, like a mischievous child being punished by their parents. 

Varian collapsed onto the ground. His eyes closed seconds after that.

"What do I do??" 

She looked around in a panic for something, anything, that might help her. All she found was the indifferent face of a blue ghost.

"Leave him." she sighed, "It appears we'll have to wait a little longer. It's best not to be found here yet."

She felt the blood rushing faster and faster in her veins.

"I didn't want this!!" Cassandra yelled.

"It doesn't matter." the girl shrugged, "It happened."

She elected to ignore the girl for the time being, kneeling next to the alchemist. She turned him on his back and pressed both hands to the large wound in his chest. He coughed. A drop of blood splattered on her armoured wrist.

The ghost sighed loudly: "Just leave him! You may have had to kill him eventually, anyway."

Cassandra felt her blood turn from a raging fire to an icy stream. "What?" she wheezed, taking care not to let the pressure off the wound.

"You are outnumbered and overpowered." the girl explained, "They have an army and you have only yourself. This boy…" she gestured at him carelessly, "...is the sole heir to  _ Lord Demanitus _ 's knowledge. With power like that, you would either need to have him on your side, or no side at all."

The mocking, despising tone of her voice went momentarily unnoticed by her disciple.

"And how do you know he wouldn't have been on our side?" 

"Oh, please. You know it as well as I do." the girl rolled her eyes, "You can't help him. If you don't want to stay here, then leave."

Cassandra ignored her. She held one hand over the wound while she searched through Varian's bag with the other. He was wheezing now. 

"Why don't you ever label these?" she hissed in frustration, staring at a dozen bottles and vials containing several completely unidentifiable liquids and powders. Only two of them were labelled, but they were useless to her at that moment. She pressed the empty linen bag to his stomach. It was immediately soaked through with blood.

The Moonstone spritzed with energy on her chest.

She turned back to the ghost: "How do I save him?"

"You. Can't!!" she groaned, "Weren't you listening, Cassandra? Even if you want to, there's nothing you can do. Look at him! He'll be gone in a matter of minutes."

She was right. 

The wound was too serious.

That was usually when one would start to look for a miracle. 

The young alchemist whimpered in pain. He was conscious, but not present.

"Ruddiger…" he whined, "Ge' off my chest. 't hurts…"

The opal gave another spark of energy. 

"What about the Moonstone?" she asked.

"What?"

The ghost sounded genuinely confused.

"What about the Moonstone?" she repeated, "Maybe it can-"

She laughed out loud, in the way one would laugh at a child's hopeless plan. Cassandra felt the air being knocked out of her lungs.

"The Moonstone can only destroy." the ghost smiled, shaking her head, "It doesn't possess the healing magic of the Sundrop."

"No…"

"Yes. If it upsets you to be here, then leave."

Cassandra turned back to the boy. The red rocks must still have been exercising their influence on him, because he was calling out to his dad with what little breath he had left. She tried to listen for what he was saying.

It sounded a lot like _ I don't want to die _ .

She stopped listening.

The ghost brushed the nonexistent dirt off her gown nonchalantly: "Let us go then. There's nothing you can-"

"Wait."

Cassandra stared ahead of her, listlessly: "Didn't you say that Rapunzel was able to take part of the power of the Moonstone?"

That seemed to take the ghost by surprise more than anything else had before then: "Well...yes, but-"

"So why can't I do the same?"

"Don't be ridiculous! There's no way to know if that will work!" she protested, but Cassandra was deaf to it. She breathed in deeply.

The rocks stretched past the sea of trees all around. She heard the frightened chitter of a squirrel near the edge of the forest and the squawking of a flock of birds miles away; she felt the little tremble of the earth where a fox ran across the path to reach its hole, the hiss of a startled viper slithering away from a newborn cluster of rocks. Little steps of someone with bare feet and heavier footsteps treading just beside them.

_ There's only one person I know who would walk a forest barefoot like that _ , she thought, rolling her eyes in a more affectionate manner than anticipated.

She stretched her free arm out, feeling every rock as though it were one of her fingers.

She held her breath.

_ Up,  _ she ordered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that the red rocks don't just make you hallucinate, but create a feeling of constant anxiety and paranoia. Make everything louder. Thoughts scream instead of whispering and imagination breaks through the barrier of the mind.
> 
> That being said, my girl's got some baggage.  
> Not a lot of Varian in this chapter and I'm sorry, but hey we get POV Cass :)  
> Cass has morality, yay!!! Unless we're talking about me of course :3
> 
> With that said, do feel free to yell at me for all the sad :D
> 
> -Cass


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: some more blood

It was too late to dodge the thin spike that sliced across her forearm. She barely even had time to notice the little drop of blood that splattered on her sleeve when the rock ripped through the edge of her dress and split the skin cleanly where it met her bracelet.

"Ow!" she cried, flinging her arm as far from the offending object as possible. She waved off Quirin's concern, but their attention was not to remain on that cut for long. They stared with wide eyes at the spike.

At its base, where the blood had spiralled down,  _ something  _ was forming. The droplets of crimson were slowly changing their colour, from red to a bright orange to glowing gold. The red light that bathed their faces in an unnatural hue receded from the rocks like fresh paint dripping away from a wall, but from the base to the tip, like it was being sucked away into the sky. In its place swirled a warm, golden glow that made daylight before dawn around them. Rapunzel had to look up to check that it was, indeed, still nighttime.

All the rocks began to change, one after the other. She reached out and brushed her finger against the one that had cut her.

Something…  _ someone _ resonated within it.

The cut thinned out and scarred in a matter of seconds.

"Cassandra, this is ridiculous!" the girl shouted, but she didn't hear it.

Her arm felt warm. She could see the red rocks that stretched in every direction slowly turning into gold as the critters in the forest gathered curiously instead of running from them. A fox poked distrustfully at one of them and she could almost feel its surprise when the wound on its paw mended itself without a scar. 

Her head felt warm too, as did her entire body then. Her hair was alight with warm gold that consumed the cold blue of the Opal. 

_ The song _ , she reminded herself when the little body beneath her seized in pain. He didn't have much time.

_ Flower, gleam and glow _ …

Somewhere in the forest, Rapunzel gasped. She felt drained all of a sudden, and leaned against a tree for support.

_ Let your power shine… _

Varian's chest seized again, but the blood stopped leaking from his chest.

_ Make the clock reverse… _

Quirin took a step back as the song echoed around him. Then he took a step forward.

_ Bring back what once was mine. _

The girl growled with barely contained fury. Why was she so angry?

_ Heal what has been hurt… _

His muscle tissue was beginning to stitch itself back in place. The blood felt tackier now, like it was drying.

_ Change the Fates' design… _

Her hair brushed against her cheek. Her chest burned with the heat of the Sun itself, and she had to wonder if that was what Rapunzel had always felt.

_ Save what has been lost _ …

Two people ran through a forest of gold. Their lungs burned with exhaustion and the raging fires of the Sun.

_ Bring back what once was mine… _

She dared to look at the wound as the last line of the song approached. It wasn't completely closed. It would leave a scar. But he would live.

Smiling wider than she had in a while, she sang the last line.

_ What once was mine. _

He remained unconscious, initially. 

By  _ initially _ , it should be said that it was five seconds at most, but for some reason it felt so much longer to her as she stared at his deathly pale face in wait of a change, a sign, anything. 

He remained still, and still so pale, so quiet.

The usual spot of pink was missing from his little nose. 

Cassandra's gaze fell to the floor, along with her heart.

That was when his eyes shot open and he immediately turned on his side to throw up a torrent of residual blood, like someone who'd just been rescued from the deadly waters of an ocean they'd nearly drowned in.

He coughed up the last few drops.

"Oh, gross…" he weakly whimpered, trying to pull himself up on his elbow.

He flinched when he saw her, but his terrified expression seemed to mellow out slightly when he saw the regretful look on her face.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, helping him sit up against a tree.

He coughed again. "I've been better…" he compromised. 

That made her lip tug up just a little.

"Yeah, I'll bet." 

His eyes still seemed to be searching for an escape, though. A way to get away from her with no further damage. He didn't find it.

"What happened?" he asked. His voice was still wheezy, but at least it was clear he had both lungs intact.

Her gaze dropped to the floor: "I… lost control. I didn't mean to hurt you, I…"

She took a deep breath: "I need you to know that it was an accident. I didn't want to hurt you."

He stared at her for a moment.

His head moved up and down in a small nod.

"I believe you." he said.

"You do?"

"You wouldn't have saved me if you'd wanted me dead or injured." he nodded again, weakly, "I can tell that much. And you didn't want anything from me, so it wouldn't have made sense. Right?"

It sounded a little too much like he was trying to convince himself. Even then, though, his eyes scanned for an exit.

"Right."

The rocks had faded back to their usual black. They were still hers, though, and when she reached out to sense what she knew was coming, she found them dangerously close. It would only be minutes.

"Listen, Varian?"

"Mh?" the kid blinked, on the verge of unconsciousness. She grabbed his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I have to go now." she said.

He was awake all of a sudden. His half conscious mind had been startled into panic mode and he grabbed her wrist as tightly as he could: "N… no, wait, I…" 

He hissed in pain as the change in breathing pulled at his scar. 

"Don't… don't leave me… I can't g...go back on my own!!" 

She lowered his hands with little effort, despite how much he was struggling to grab a hold of her arm again: "Don't worry. Help is on the way. You're gonna be fine, kid. Okay?"

He didn't quite seem to catch that, because his struggle didn't cease: "Cass, please… I hav' to go back, I… oh, dad's gonna be worried sick…" he coughed. She decided not to point out how he'd gloated about no one, not even his dad, knowing of his presence there. Mostly because she knew for a fact he did, in fact, know where he was and he was, in fact, already on his way and closer every second and she really didn't want to be there when he and Rapunzel arrived.

"Listen, Varian, listen…" she held his wrists steady: "I'm not leaving, okay? I'm just going into the woods for a moment. I'll be right back, okay?"

He whined uncomfortably. "Do you promise?" he asked, quietly.

_ Oh, come on. _

She was silent for a moment.

"I promise you won't be alone for long." she nodded. Technically not a lie.

The ground seemed to have caught Varian's interest all of a sudden. "Okay…" he whispered.

She stood once more.

"You'll be okay." she told him. "And…" she added, quietly, "I'm sorry I lost control."

He just gave her a quiet  _ okay _ sign with a smile; painted on bloody lips, but no less goofy. 

It was only as she walked away to hide in the tallest tree she could find that she remembered the ghost girl.

She was nowhere to be found.

  
  


Their lungs felt like they were on fire. They'd eventually been forced to stop running, maybe a mile or less away from the valley.

Still, their walking pace was significantly faster than normal.

The rocks had lost the warm glow of the sun. Neither of them had stopped to comment on it. 

They almost missed it in their panic, when the trees opened on the valley that stretched for miles east. The beginning of a timid sunrise could be seen on the horizon. The blue sky was turning green and pink, like a peach that wasn't quite ripe yet.

"Varian!!" Rapunzel called out with burning lungs.

"Varian!!" 

"Varian?"

They both called out to him. It was their mistake, really. They were only able to hear his feeble little voice when they stopped shouting.

"H… 'ere… here."

Rapunzel felt like she was breathing for the first time in her life. That first breath felt so good to her that it was an even worse hit when it was punched out of her again. Varian's shirt was splashed with red and his waistcoat had a suspiciously rock-shaped hole in it. She didn't dare give Quirin's face so much as a glance, but she could do nothing to not hear his voice.

"Varian… oh no, no… you-"

"I'm okay." the boy assured him, "She healed me. See?"

He pulled apart the ripped edges of the hole in his shirt to show them where the wound should have been. Only, there was no wound. His skin was almost smooth there.

Rapunzel met his father's eyes for a moment. The connection was clear in their mind.

"You mean Cass?" she asked, knowing the answer.

Varian nodded. There was a hint of melancholy in his eyes.

"Can we just…" he sighed to mask a hiss of pain, "Can we just go home? Please?"

Rapunzel knelt in front of him before his father could answer. She held Varian by the wrists with a gentle, but trembling, grasp. Her face must have been scary. 

Varian's expression softened into pure sympathy: "Oh… no, Rapunzel, no, I'm okay, I swear."

She didn't answer, because she didn't have an answer. The best she could do was pull him into a very careful hug, pressing her face into his hair and thanking every force and spirit of nature that he was alive.

She didn't expect him to start crying.

Not until a muffled little sob echoed in her ears and shaky little hands clenched in the back of her dress.

She pulled away just enough to look him in his glistening blue eyes. She sensed the weight of Quirin kneeling a little ways back and a moment later, his hand brushed through Varian's hair in a respectfully distant gesture of comfort. But Varian didn't do _respectfully_ _distant_. The moment he saw that his dad was within arm's reach, he flung himself on his shoulder, encircling his head with shaky hands. His legs barely moved. He was probably too dizzy to stand, she realized.

Quirin held one hand on his upper back, whereas the other kept stroking his messy black hair.

"I-" came a muffled sob from his shoulder, "I wa… I wanted to help her! So  _ badly _ !!" 

"I know…" 

"You did what you could, Varian." Rapunzel assured him, scooting a little closer to them, "You did more than you had to. It's okay."

The boy sobbed again. His face was completely buried in the fur of Quirin's shirt at that point. They didn't move for a few minutes at least. Varian sniffed. At least he seemed to have calmed down enough to speak. Then he turned back to Rapunzel, without leaving his dad's side: "I… I am so sorry." 

She sat silently in front of him. She didn't know what to say. What was he apologizing for?

"I thought…" he sniffed, "I thought if I could relate to her, I could… I could convince her to leave you alone."

Rapunzel felt as though  _ she _ were the one who'd been stabbed. 

_ It's your fault. _

_ What have I been telling you? _ whispered the voice in her head,  _ this is all your fault.  _

_ It must have hurt. _

_ It must have been painful. _

_ It must have been terrifying. _

_ You didn't save him, Cassandra did. _

_ You can't even get that part right. _

_ You- _

A hand closed gently around her shoulder. 

"I think it's time we went back." Quirin told them. The two nodded. 

Varian didn't protest when his dad picked him up. He was probably too dizzy to walk, if the amount of blood on the ground was any indication. She looked away.

They headed west, pushed along by the rising sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cough* Moonlight is a reflection of sunlight *cough cough*  
> My poor girl's got issues :(((  
> Also yes yes, healing tears are great but healing blood is valid.
> 
> Last chapter is out tomorrow, so I can get all these feels out BEFORE my heart gets destroyed with Plus Est En Vous. Because I KNOW I'm going to suffer.
> 
> In the meantime, let me know what you think uwu
> 
> -Cass


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

Varian didn't last more than a few minutes. To his credit, he tried to stay awake and answer all the questions they posed to him in an attempt to keep him conscious, but it proved to be too much effort for him, sleep deprived and anemic as he was, and he ended up dozing off on his dad's shoulder mid-sentence. Quirin didn't react beyond holding him just a little tighter.

"Why do I still let him go anywhere alone?" 

It was… a genuine question, Rapunzel realized, and probably the most sincere he'd been that evening. A question needed an answer, so she gave the best she could.

"Because you trust him."

He didn't reply.

She pressed on, hoping to get him to talk again and maybe distract him from the unconscious boy in his arms: "I should really have left Eugene a note."

She laughed, but it was the anxious and terrified variety of awkward laugh, which didn't make it any easier when it dawned on her that her boyfriend didn't know where on earth she was and if she was okay. Come to think of it, he probably had no idea Varian was missing either. Hopefully. That would definitely freak him out.

Pascal squawked sympathetically from within her bag.

"I wonder why he slept longer than I did..." she murmured.

"Dosage." Quirin suggested, "Maybe Varian miscalculated the dose for at least one of you."

"I didn't!" came a muffled protest from his chest. Varian was slipping in and out of consciousness, it would seem.

The boy gave them no time to answer before filling in the blanks: "I put it in his drink too. But then I thought I smelled something burning so I gave him the vial for safekeeping and told him not to drink any of it. Honestly a few drops would have been enough, but…"

"He drank the whole thing." Rapunzel completed, with a long sigh.

"Yeah, that. And then immediately fell asleep then and there." he snorted.

"Is it safe to drink that much?" Quirin inquired.

"As far as I know." the kid shrugged, before immediately falling unconscious again.

Rapunzel sighed again, before being struck by a realization when she heard a distant neigh.

"Oh no." she whispered, going white as a sheet, "I didn't tell Dad where I was going, either."

Quirin gave her a sympathetic side glance, but said nothing. He knew very well that the King of Corona could be just a little overbearing sometimes, but in all honesty, he didn't blame him at all this time around.

They barely had time to dwell on that thought before the majestic beast that was Maximus strode into the path with an aggressive neigh, barely having any time to stop and avoid plowing into them. He neighed once again looking at the unlikely trio. Rapunzel didn't have time to greet him before Eugene stumbled off the horse's back to reach her.

He pulled her into a very tight embrace, without a word. 

Until he pulled away. "You gotta stop scaring me like that, Sunshine. At least leave a n-" 

His eyes found Varian behind her. That was the first time that it occurred to her how bad it must've looked to see Quirin holding his unconscious, terribly pale, and completely blood-soaked son to his chest. If she didn't know any better, she might have thought Varian was dead or dying.

She racked her brain for the right words to say to calm him down without sounding dismissive, but Varian spared her the trouble when he made a sleepy noise in the back of his throat and shifted to fit more comfortably against his dad's shoulder. Eugene's shoulders slumped in relief, but that didn't stop him from grilling her on what had happened.

The sounds of the other soldiers' search were drawing closer and she let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a quiet scream of terror. 

Eugene held her hand without a word. He didn't need to say anything.

He did need to answer a question for her, though.

"Eugene?"

"Mh?"

"Is… is Dad in the search party too?"

He smiled apologetically: "He's leading it."

  
  


They did, eventually, manage to calm down the king. With a few strategic lies, of course.

They left out the part where Varian had drugged both Rapunzel and Eugene, for instance, and Eugene thankfully took the blame for his own mistake. They did mention that Varian had snuck out and had been injured, but strategically avoided telling him that Cassandra had been anywhere near him, chalking it up to a randomly spawning rock and lying about the extent of his injury to explain why he was still alive and relatively well in spite of all the blood. The king thankfully bought it with nary a glance at the unconscious alchemist. In fact, it seemed like he was actively avoiding looking at him.

He deliberately stayed a little behind when the guards started marching back, though, between his daughter and his old friend. He didn't mount a horse, either, preferring to walk beside them in respectful silence. 

The procession was so silent, in fact, that it was almost religious. And awkward.

Rapunzel, her arm still locked to her boyfriend's, turned around: "Should we take him to the castle?" she asked, looking at Varian.

Quirin shook his head: "I think he needs rest right now. It would be a longer stretch of road if we went to the palace and I don't want to disorient him too much."

There was something behind that statement that he wouldn't share.

"Are you sure?" the king intervened: "We have the most competent doctors in the kingdom back a-"

"I know. Thank you, your Majesty, but I really do believe the sooner he can rest, the better. If any problems persist, we will be sure to visit." his friend assured him. And he did look grateful. There was a tired and beaten flicker of affection in his eyes, which grew into a flame as soon as they met his sleeping child. Rapunzel felt rather than saw her own father's gaze fixed on her, different and still just as loving.

For the first time that night, she smiled.

  
  


Once they got home, Quirin pretty much made a beeline for the closet and gathered a few clean clothes. Then he sent his son on his way.

Of course, Varian didn't go to his room. He set the clothes on the first cupboard he could find and made his way to the window, staring out over a landscape still invaded by tall, sharp black spikes.

He set his elbows on the windowsill with a half smile. It was promising to be a lovely day. 

When he heard a heavy sigh from downstairs, he slowly, quietly stepped back. The dark crimson on his shirt was slowly turning a reddish brown and he'd spent part of the way home scraping dried blood from his chin, but as for normal functioning, he was alright. He could be sneaky without suddenly getting dizzy and collapsing.

He leaned his head against the railing of the stairs.

  
  


Quirin had taken off his gloves. He had to. They were spattered with cluster after cluster of little dark spots and he would really rather have them in his sight for as little as possible. 

And, as always, his gaze lingered a little longer on the left hand. The tattoo was also half-covered by poorly dried stains, but it was still very much visible and, even if it weren't, there really was no way for him to ignore it, much less forget it was there. He sighed.

He decided he should get cleaned up too.

However, he'd barely taken a few steps up the stairs when he raised his eyes to see Varian standing on the last step. He was exactly as he'd been ten minutes prior.

"Varian, I told you to go change." he frowned: "It's not doing you any good to have all that blood on you."

The boy took a few steps towards him and he had to restrain himself from taking a few back. Something in his gut was screaming to  _ run, get out of here, get as far away as you can _ , but he couldn't tell why until Varian was in front of him.

The smile on his face was  _ wrong _ . Not necessarily unnatural, but nothing he'd ever seen on Varian's face in sixteen years.

When he spoke, he sounded strange, too.

"The Brotherhood of the Dark Kingdom." he said, but it sounded fake. Like he was doing his best impression of Varian, instead of just speaking.

Quirin recoiled slightly. Everything about what he was seeing and hearing was  _ wrong _ , somehow. 

Then Varian, or whatever had taken his place, smiled wider than he'd ever thought possible, and spoke again with a strange accent.

"I thought I knew you from somewhere." the thing smirked, and then he was falling again, pushed by something he couldn't see. 

His head crashed against the wooden floor, connecting through his old scar.

He would never be sure of it when he woke up later, but he could have sworn he'd seen its eyes flash green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, my hand slipped.  
> Time to sit down and wait for people to yell at me :3  
> I'm sorry, I don't usually do cliffhangers but if you want to stop the story at the end of chapter 4 that is totally an option and I will not judge you. However, if you do accept this ending, don't worry. I'm already writing the "sequel" (Hollywood has ruined that word for me but you get the point)
> 
> My position on everyone on this show needing therapy stands.
> 
> See you next time ;)
> 
> -Cass

**Author's Note:**

> Someone's in trouble :D  
> It's me. I'm the trouble.  
> Sorry to everyone in this story.  
> Catch me referencing other works by Mr Jeremy Jordan :D
> 
> Next chapter will be out Thursday at the latest.
> 
> Please feel free to yell at me, because it ain't getting any better anytime soon :3
> 
> -Cass


End file.
